White Sox “Trades” with EVERY TEAM – NL West Edition – 2021

A long time ago, I was listening to an interview with legendary poker professional Phil Ivey and the interviewer asked the question (paraphrasing) How would you recommend a player learning the game get better the fastest? Phil said something to the effect of (paraphrasing) Buy in to a game at much lower stakes than you would normally play, and then play every single hand for an hour. Try and figure out how you would play all of these different hands in different situations and positions that you are normally taught not to play in. In the spirit of that recommendation from an all-time great, Chorizy and I are going to undertake the exercise of making a White Sox trade with every team in the majors…..this is the NL West Edition.

Los Angeles Dodgers

108er: BeefLoaf
White Sox send: Yoan Moncada
White Sox receive: Julio Urias, AJ Pollock, Brusdar Graterol and Edwin Rios
Rationale: The Dodgers will be looking to replace the production of Justin Turner and maybe they just go with the Hydrox to their Oreo cookie version and use Rios, who hit in the minors but might not be much of a defender, but I think they’d prefer Moncada’s pedigree to add to their core. The White Sox get various helpful parts that none of which individually are as good as Moncada (although Urias ain’t a huge dog to be that guy), but overall fill in the gaps of missing production and help an org that has had trouble developing adequate depth. The Dodgers always develop depth, so a potential superstar they add.

San Diego Padres

108er: BeefLoaf
White Sox send: Leury Garcia
White Sox receive: Wil Myers
Rationale: This isn’t the sexiest trade in the world, but in case the White Sox can’t nab the quality of RF they are looking for in the FA market, this is a nice alternative. Myers hit the tar outta the ball last year, maybe it’s an aberration or possibly, he fixed hisself in the short season at the ripe young age of 29. He’s owed $20M/yr for the next couple tree years, so getting him off the books helps the Padres and his production and RF profile helps the White Sox. The Padres get Leury Garcia who is a nice short term fix and utility player to protect a strong position player core.

San Francisco Giants

108er: Chorizy-E
White Sox send: Jake Burger, Jimmy Cordero, James Beard
White Sox receive: Brandon Belt
Rationale: You’re buying a bit high on Brandon Belt, but his $16M salary and the options the Giants have to replace him make him expendable. I assume Giants fans will think his price should be higher, but eating all of that salary makes this happen. Plus they’ve had a lot of luck with rotund third basemen. For the Sox, Belt spends time at 1B, LF, and DH.

Colorado Rockies

108er: BeefLoaf
White Sox send: Zack Collins, Micker Adolfo and Jonathan Stiever
White Sox receive: Antonio Senzatela
Rationale: As I previously noted in my SoxMachine Off-Season plan, the White Sox are looking for mid-rotation help and the Rockies seem to be able to make these low K rate, high ground ball rate starting pitchers that are uniquely only valuable in some specific environment. Lucky for us, 35th and Shields, where we drink brews next to a gigantic Goose is one of the spots on earth where we can take advantage.

Arizona Diamondbacks

108er: Chorizy-E
White Sox send: Reynaldo Lopez and Elijah Tatis
White Sox receive: Madison Bumgarner
Rationale: Look, I know MadBum might not have a lot left in the tank after being over-used by the Giants and he still has a lot of $ left on that contract. But we’re basically trading a guy who can’t crack the rotation and a young lottery ticket for someone who could surprise you and become the AL Cy Young.